90 facts to know about the Masters, which celebrates its 90th edition

Here in 2026 it’s the 90th playing of the Masters Tournament. First played in 1934 and then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, the Masters has had many memorable moments, and perhaps more than a few things most fans didn’t know about the event.

The Masters Tournament trophy at Augusta National Golf Club.

1934 – first tournament played the nines in reverse, then switched to current format the following year

1934 – Horton Smith wins the first Augusta National Invitation Tournament with a score of 4-under 284

1934 – First radio broadcast

1934 – Ross Somerville records the first hole-in-one at the Masters with a mashie niblick at the 145-yard No. 16

1935 – Gene Sarazen holes a 4-wood from 235 yards for an albatross 2 on the par-5 15^th hole in the final round, a shot forever called “The Shot Heard Round the World”

1937 – Augusta National members first wear the single-breasted, single-vent green jacket so patrons could identify a reliable source of information

1939 – Tournament officially named The Masters

1940 — Lloyd Mangrum scores course-record 64 in opening round, a record which stands for 46 years

1941 — Craig Wood first wire-to-wire winner

1942 – Byron Nelson defeats Ben Hogan in the first Masters playoff

1943-1944 – Club closes during World War II

1947 – Jimmy Demaret becomes first golfer to break par in all four rounds

1947 – Magnolia Lane paved

1948 — Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, four years before being elected president of the United States, becomes a member at Augusta

1948 – Frank Stranahan becomes first competitor to have his invitation rescinded

1949 – the green jacket is first awarded to the champion, Sam Snead

1950 – Jimmy Demaret becomes the first three-time Masters champion

1951 – Runner-up begins receiving a silver medal

1952 — Ben Hogan starts the Champions Dinner

1952 – Low amateur begins receiving a silver cup for his performance

1953 – Eisenhower Cabin built

1954 – Masters begins awarding crystal for holes-in-one, eagles, and the day’s low score

1955 — The first bridge at Augusta National named for a player is dedicated to Gene Sarazen. The Sarazen Bridge runs over the water hazard in front of the green on the 15^th hole

1956 — first year of television coverage

1956 – Ken Venturi shoots 66, the lowest round ever by an amateur

1957 – A 36-hole cut is introduced for the first time

1958 – Bridges dedicated to Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. The Hogan Bridge crosses Rae’s Creek, taking golfers to the No. 12 green and the Nelson Bridge crosses Rae’s Creek, taking golfers to the No. 13 tee

1958 — “Amen Corner” – holes 11-13 – christened by writer Herbert Warren Wind in an article in Sports Illustrated.

1959 – Art Wall becomes the first Master champion to win with a birdie on the final hole

1960 – Sam Snead wins the inaugural Par 3 Contest, which becomes a Masters tradition

1960 – Telecast interview of champion with Clifford Roberts begun.

1961 – Gary Player becomes the first non-American champion

1961 – Clubhouse reproduction introduced for permanent Masters Trophy

1961 – Charlie Coe shoots 281, the lowest amateur score for 72 holes

1963 – Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod begin the tradition of an honorary starter

1964 – Arnold Palmer becomes the first four-time champion

1965 – Butler Cabin begins serving as television studio during broadcast

1967 – First golf broadcast in color

1967 – TV announcer Jack Whitaker banned from the broadcast booth for referring to the patrons in the 1966 playoff as a “mob”

1968 – Bob Goalby wins when Roberto De Vicenzo signs an incorrect scorecard showing a 4 on No. 17 instead of a birdie 3 to miss a playoff

1971 – At age 69, Augusta National Golf Club co-founder Bobby Jones dies of the spinal disease syringomyelia

1972 — Patron Badge list closed. Waiting list established.

1975 – Lee Elder first Black to play in the tournament

1975 – Johnny Miller scores a record 30 on the front-nine in the third round but falls short of Jack Nicklaus, who wins his fifth of six Green Jackets, on Sunday

1977 – Augusta National co-founder Clifford Roberts found dead on the banks of Augusta’s par-3 course of a self-inflicted gunshot wound

1977 – William H. Lane elected Chairman and Hord W. Hardin elected Vice-Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters

1978 – Silver Salver added as an award for the tournament runner-up

1979 – Fuzzy Zoeller wins the first sudden-death playoff at The Masters

1980 – Seve Ballesteros becomes first European champion

1980 – Hord W. Hardin elected chairman

1981 – Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson assume the role as honorary starter last filled in 1976

1981 – First Masters played on bentgrass greens

1982 — Craig Stadler defeats Dan Pohl in the tournament’s first one-hole playoff

1983 — Players given the option of using their own caddies

1984 – Sam Snead joins as an honorary starter

1986 – Jack Nicklaus win his record sixth Masters at age 46

1986 – Greg Norman (first round) and Nick Price (final round) shoot the lowest 18-hole score in tournament history of 63

1987 – Larry Mize chips-in to beat Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros in a playoff and become the first Augusta native to win the title

1991 — Ron Townsend becomes the first Black member admitted

1991 — Jackson T. Stephens elected chairman.

1992 – Marc Calcavecchia scores a record 29 on the back-nine in the fourth round

1995 – Gary McCord removed from CBS’s coverage for saying the greens were so slick they looked as if they’d been “bikini waxed” and describing shots landing over the 17^th green as ending up by the “body bags”

1995 – Ben Crenshaw wins his second Masters the same week he served as a pallbearer for famed instructor Harvey Penick

1995 — Plaque commemorating Arnold Palmer’s achievements at the Masters placed on new fountain at No. 16

1996 – Greg Norman blows the largest 54 hole lead, 6 shots

1996 – Masters internet site launched

1997 – Tiger Woods becomes first Black winner and the youngest champion (21 years, 3 months, 14 days)

1998 – Mark O’Meara becomes the oldest first-time winner (41)

1998 – William “Hootie” Johnson elected chairman

1999 – Second cut of fairway increased on golf course.

2004 – Arnold Palmer plays in his 50^th consecutive and final Masters

2006 – Billy Payne elected tournament chairman

2007 – Arnold Palmer becomes the tournament’s seventh honorary starter, a role he filled up until his death in 2016

2007 – Zach Johnson ties the highest winning score (289)

2010 – Jack Nicklaus becomes the tournament’s eighth honorary starter

2011 — Rory McIlroy matches highest final-round score (80) ever shot by 54-hole leader/co-leader at Masters

2011 — South African Charl Schwartzel becomes first Masters champion to birdie each of his final four holes.

2012 – Gary Player becomes the tournament’s ninth honorary starter

2012 — Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore become the first female members of Augusta National Golf Club

2013 — Adam Scott becomes first Australian champion of the Masters

2014 — 20-year-old Jordan Spieth shares 54-hole lead, youngest player to lead/co-lead after any round at the Masters

2015 — 21-year-old Jordan Spieth becomes 2nd-youngest winner, 5th wire-to-wire winner (first in 39 years)

2016 — Danny Willett becomes first Englishman to win Masters in 20 years. Like Nick Faldo in 1996, does so with a final-round 67.

2017 — Sergio Garcia wins 1st major title in 74th major start, setting all-time mark for most major championship starts to first major title.

2017 – Fred Ridley succeeds Billy Payne as chairman of Augusta National

2019 – Tiger Woods (43) becomes second-oldest Masters champion, winning his fifth Masters and 15th major, second all time for both. It’s his first major title since the 2008 U.S. Open and only major he’s won from behind after 54 holes

2020 — Dustin Johnson sets new 72-hole scoring record in win (20-under 268) during November Masters due to COVID-19

2021 – Lee Elder, the first Black to compete in the Masters in 1975, joins Nicklaus and Player as an honorary starter for one year

2021 — Hideki Matsuyama becomes first men’s major champion representing Japan

2022 – Tom Watson becomes the most recent honorary starter, joining Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player

2023 — Jon Rahm becomes first European to win the Masters and the U.S. Open. He’s also only the second player to win Masters after making double bogey on opening hole of the tournament (Sam Snead, 1952)

2025 — Rory McIlroy wins in a sudden-death playoff to complete the career Grand Slam. He also sets new mark for most double bogeys/worse (4) by a Masters champion and for most 3s or lower on the scorecard in regulation by Masters champion (30)

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 90 facts about the Masters you should know for the 90th edition

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